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Ebay LED's?

P

poplaski31

Anyone have any input on these lights? Ive tried searching here to see if anyone's already posted about them but I didnt see anything.

Looking to put these on my 10 gallon reef. right now everything seems fine under 2 screw in 50/50 power compacts, but I'd like to get some more growth going and all. Not looking to spend too much money, obviously these would be perfect if they work as good as this guy says they do. Im looking to add these (18 inch strips each) to the pc's

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Aquarium-Co...t=LH_DefaultDomain_0&var=&hash=item3f18050d77

he also has a 20k but I think that might be too much for the softies?

also this blue

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Aquarium-44...t=LH_DefaultDomain_0&var=&hash=item416746abdf
 
jpelzer

jpelzer

I don't have anything like that on my reef, but I've built some non-fish projects with those strip LEDs. I doubt they have enough power to grow anything. It says 100 lumens/foot. A 60w incandescent light has about 800 lumens.

You can look right at them and not be blinded. They run at very low power, since they don't have heat sinks.
 
A

Alcohol120

yea you need some more power than that to be able to grow coral. Anything that doesn't have a heatsink, like jpelzer said, is probably not going to be powerful enough. the cheapest way for you to add some powerful LEDs would be a par38 bulb probably. look for one with 3w LEDs.
 
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poplaski31

thanks for the replies. checking around for par38 aquarium bulbs looks to run $90-$140 plus cost of fixture. this guys led setup for my tank is about $45 has perfect feedback, free shipping, and stated I could return no problem. think ill give it a shot
 
redfishbluefish

redfishbluefish

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
I’m pretty confident your corals will be sorry. These are so underpowered you’ll have to have everything within an inch of the water surface. Do a little research and you’ll find that, at a minimum, you will need 1 watt leds. The ones most of us are using are 3 watt. You say only $45, but that 45 is just going to be flushed down the toilet. Do it right the first time!

You might also wish to check out a DIY…..and they now sell solderless kits.
 
JRWOHLER

JRWOHLER

I agree with most that these lights will not be enough to grow corals. If you had a fish only tank it might be OK. I hate to say this, absolutely no bad intented, but this is NOT a cheap hobby. I hate to spend money but to keep corals you have to. Here is a link to a supplier that we recently had a group buy. http://apolloreefled.com/shop/ I have to do thread with the lights but have not got them up and running as of yet, in any case there is a lot of information on LEDs on the site. I would suggest reading a lot more before you waste your money on those other lights. There is also a thread somewhere pointing to all crap we(experienced/frustrated reefers) have tried and realized doesn't work. http://www.njreefers.org/showthread...inal-products-I-have-purchased-over-the-years most of these items are some cheap version that we chucked our money away on. I am on there for a couple :sorrow:
In any case take your time and buy some decent stuff. There are some less expense then Apollo LEDs out there that are good...there are also more expensive. I liked those because I like to buy stuff made in the US. In any case do more reading and take everything with a grain of salt. PS I bought some cheap LEDs for a refugium that yes he replaced them the first time they died but then the second time I was fed up and wasted my cash. So been there done that.
 
jpelzer

jpelzer

Yah, well said. Best way to save money is to DIY things, but don't go cheap with DIY... If that makes sense. Do the best you can with DIY, you'll come in around the same cost as the cheap prebuilt. Though the cost there is time time time.

Also, not all the Apollo LEDs are US-made. For instance http://apolloreefled.com/shop/reef-led-cube-light/ is a china special. That's the one I wanted to get during the group buy, but since it's not US-made I changed my mind.
 
A

Alcohol120

eventually we might see some prices come down. i think most of these chinese imitations are starting to win over a lot of people on a budget.
 
Zippy69

Zippy69

I find the Chinese imitations just fine. The cost of each led is cents on the dollar. The only unique thing is when the software or ability to alter/change intensity over time comes in to play. Not willing to pay top dollar for the equivalent cell phone that weighs 10 lbs. I will wait to spend money when I can with the stroke of a finger change each individual pot or led from my iPad. Untill that happens i am happy with my reefbreeder lights and chinese leds over my qt tank.Light is light as long as the number of photons meets photosynthetic requirements and the wavelength is pleasing to the eye, you are good to go. Sorry for the rant, I guess it's like justifying why your flavor of ice cream is the best! Lol
 
iTzJu

iTzJu

Officer Emeritus
NJRC Member
Zippy69 said:
I find the Chinese imitations just fine. The cost of each led is cents on the dollar. The only unique thing is when the software or ability to alter/change intensity over time comes in to play. Not willing to pay top dollar for the equivalent cell phone that weighs 10 lbs. I will wait to spend money when I can with the stroke of a finger change each individual pot or led from my iPad. Untill that happens i am happy with my reefbreeder lights and chinese leds over my qt tank.Light is light as long as the number of photons meets photosynthetic requirements and the wavelength is pleasing to the eye, you are good to go. Sorry for the rant, I guess it's like justifying why your flavor of ice cream is the best! Lol
Click to expand...

Agreed! well said Pete!
 
JRWOHLER

JRWOHLER

Zippy69 said:
I find the Chinese imitations just fine. The cost of each led is cents on the dollar. The only unique thing is when the software or ability to alter/change intensity over time comes in to play. Not willing to pay top dollar for the equivalent cell phone that weighs 10 lbs. I will wait to spend money when I can with the stroke of a finger change each individual pot or led from my iPad. Untill that happens i am happy with my reefbreeder lights and chinese leds over my qt tank.Light is light as long as the number of photons meets photosynthetic requirements and the wavelength is pleasing to the eye, you are good to go. Sorry for the rant, I guess it's like justifying why your flavor of ice cream is the best! Lol
Click to expand...


Bottom line is while there are reasonable alternatives I don't think the rope LEDs you are looking at will work.
 
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